As the incidence of obesity is reaching ‘epidemic’ proportions, there is currently widespread interest in the impact of dietary components on body-weight and food intake regulation. The majority of data available from both epidemiological and intervention studies provide evidence of a negative but modest association between milk and dairy product consumption and BMI and other measures of adiposity, with indications that higher intakes result in increased weight loss and lean tissue maintenance during energy restriction. The purported physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of dairy constituents on adiposity are incompletely understood but may include effects on lipolysis, lipogeneis and fatty acid absorption. Furthermore, accumulating evidence indicates an impact of dairy constituents, in particular whey protein derivatives, on appetite regulation and food intake. The present review summarises available data and provides an insight into the likely contribution of dairy foods to strategies aimed at appetite regulation, weight loss or the prevention of weight gain.

In Mediterranean countries, adherence to a traditional Mediterranean dietary pattern (MedDiet) is associated with better cognitive function and reduced dementia risk. It is unclear if similar benefits exist in non-Mediterranean regions. The aims of this study were to examine associations between MedDiet adherence and cognitive function in an older UK population and to investigate whether associations differed between individuals with high compared with low cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We conducted an analysis in 8009 older individuals with dietary data at Health Check 1 (1993-1997) and cognitive function data at Health Check 3 (2006-2011) of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk). Associations were explored between MedDiet adherence and global and domain-specific cognitive test scores and risk of poor cognitive performance in the entire cohort, and when stratified according to CVD risk status. Higher MedDiet adherence defined by the Pyramid MedDiet score was associated with better global cognition (β ± SE = -0.012 ± 0.002; P < 0.001), verbal episodic memory (β ± SE = -0.009 ± 0.002; P < 0.001), and simple processing speed (β ± SE = -0.002 ± 0.001; P = 0.013). Lower risk of poor verbal episodic memory (OR: 0.784; 95% CI: 0.641, 0.959; P = 0.018), complex processing speed (OR: 0.739; 95% CI: 0.601, 0.907; P = 0.004), and prospective memory (OR: 0.841; 95% CI: 0.724, 0.977; P = 0.023) was also observed for the highest compared with the lowest Pyramid MedDiet tertiles. The effect of a 1-point increase in Pyramid score on global cognitive function was equivalent to 1.7 fewer years of cognitive aging. MedDiet adherence defined by the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) score (mapped through the use of both binary and continuous scoring) showed similar, albeit less consistent, associations. In stratified analyses, associations were evident in individuals at higher CVD risk only (P < 0.05). Higher adherence to the MedDiet is associated with better cognitive function and lower risk of poor cognition in older UK adults. This evidence underpins the development of interventions to enhance MedDiet adherence, particularly in individuals at higher CVD risk, aiming to reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline in non-Mediterranean populations.

Background: Although many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have examined the effects of the n–3 (ω-3) fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n

Background: The response of plasma lipids to dietary fat manipulation is highly heterogeneous, with some indications that APOE genotype may be import

Amy Jennings and colleagues describe the evidence and potential for food and food bioactive components to reduce the population prevalence of dementia